And Ben revealed some great nuggets - about how the Obama Girl videos came to be, and what we can expect in the future ...
1. The Obama Girl video (I've Got a Crush on Obama) began as "I've Got a Crush on Jack Bauer" ... but real politics hit Ben as the better way to go. I urged to him eventually do the Jack Bauer video anyway - I'm always looking out to help fans of 24...
2. Ben and his team scrutinized YouTube before embarking on the project - they discovered that, with all the attention the comedy skits get, the most popular videos were music. Hence the catchy songs in both the "I've Got a Crush on Obama" and "Obama Girl vs. Giuliani Girl" (Debate 08) videos.
3. Leah Kauffman wrote the first drafts of the lyrics. They were much hotter than what made it to YouTube (which are pretty hot, anyway ... "I want Giuliani on me...")
4. Ben also told the class what the next release will be in the Obama Girl series. In fact, we saw a rough cut of it. I'm sworn to secrecy - but stay tuned here for very first word of it.
5. Obama Girl (Amber Lee Ettinger) will also be appearing as an interviewer of some of the Democratic candidates in the YouTube/CNN debates last week. These are interviews with some of the real candidates that she conducted last week in South Carolina. My favorite bit: an interview with Dennis Kucinich, who appears ever briefly in "Debate 08" (Obama Girl vs. Giuliani Girl).
It's never been more fun being a professor, and teaching a course in Propaganda and Persuasion.
If Obama is elected President - or Vice President - or even gets the Democratic nomination for President or VP, Ben Relles and the impact he's having with the Obama Girl videos will deserve part of the credit for that.
See also
The Barely Political Revolution
and BarelyPolitcal.com Goes Meta!
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